Get the app

Shadowing practice: Tongue Twisters to Improve Your English Pronunciation

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. Hi, I'm Mikey.0:01
  2. Welcome to Oxford Online English.0:02
  3. In this lesson, you can practice your English pronunciation with some challenging tongue twisters.0:05
  4. You'll see six tongue twisters and you'll hear each one four times.0:11
  5. Each time you should pause the video and try to repeat the tongue twister.0:15
  6. Each time you hear a tongue twister, it will get faster.0:20
  7. Look for the red highlights, which will show you the pronunciation point which each tongue twister is testing.0:24
  8. Ready?0:30
  9. Let's begin!0:31
  10. Both thieving brothers thoughtfully threw their teeth through the thousandth threshold.0:35
  11. Both thieving brothers thoughtfully threw their teeth through the thousandth threshold.0:47
  12. Both thieving brothers thoughtfully threw their teeth through the thousandth threshold.0:56
Show all 36 lines Show fewer lines
  1. Both thieving brothers thoughtfully threw their teeth through the thousandth threshold.1:03
  2. She sees the shiny cheese, but she can't choose which shoes suit her style.1:11
  3. She sees the shiny cheese, but she can't choose which shoes suit her style.1:22
  4. She sees the shiny cheese, but she can't choose which shoes suit her style.1:33
  5. She sees the shiny cheese, but she can't choose which shoes suit her style.1:40
  6. The four fur shirts were too short for the walk to work, so I burned them on the lawn where bored birds are born.1:47
  7. The four fur shirts were too short for the walk to work, so I burned them on the lawn where bored birds are born.2:08
  8. The four fur shirts were too short for the walk to work, so I burned them on the lawn where bored birds are born.2:19
  9. The four fur shirts were too short for the walk to work, so I burned them on the lawn where bored birds are born.2:29
  10. Fewer viewers failed to find waving wives, while veiled whales favor flavorsome wines.2:39
  11. Fewer viewers failed to find waving wives, while veiled whales favor flavorsome wines.2:48
  12. Fewer viewers failed to find waving wives, while veiled whales favor flavorsome wines.3:00
  13. Fewer viewers failed to find waving wives, while veiled whales favor flavorsome wines.3:07
  14. Larry rarely rolls his airy yellow lorry in really rural rallies.3:15
  15. Larry rarely rolls his airy yellow lorry in really rural rallies.3:27
  16. Larry rarely rolls his airy yellow lorry in really rural rallies.3:34
  17. Larry rarely rolls his airy yellow lorry in really rural rallies.3:41
  18. The sixth stranger asked for extra stamps, and subsequently my square crisps exploded into the street.3:48
  19. The sixth stranger asked for extra stamps, and subsequently my square crisps exploded into the street.4:02
  20. The sixth stranger asked for extra stamps, and subsequently my square crisps exploded into the street.4:15
  21. Street.4:22
  22. Both thieving brothers thoughtfully through their teeth through the...4:54
  23. Both thieving brothers thoughtfully through their teeth through...5:01
  24. It's almost like it's a tongue twister.5:08

British English Pronunciation Practice Built From Six Tongue Twisters

This Oxford Online English lesson is not a scene or a conversation. It is a lecture built for one job: English speaking practice through repetition. Mikey introduces six tongue twisters, and each one plays four times, getting faster with every pass.

The level is B1, and the voice is a clear British accent, so this clip works well as british english pronunciation practice for learners working on consonant clusters rather than plot or vocabulary. At 133 words per minute it is faster than only 8% of the catalogue, and every one of those 36 lines is a repeat, which is exactly what makes it useful for drilling rather than following a story.

The Consonant Clusters Packed Into Each Twister

Three lines carry the whole lesson, and each targets a different pair of sounds worth slowing down for if you want to improve your english accent.

  • "Both thieving brothers thoughtfully threw their teeth through the thousandth threshold." stacks five separate "th" sounds in a row, some voiced, some not, so your tongue has to reset its position mid sentence rather than settle into one shape.
  • "She sees the shiny cheese, but she can't choose which shoes suit her style." alternates plain "s" with "sh" on almost every word, training the difference between the two without giving your mouth time to relax between them.
  • "Larry rarely rolls his airy yellow lorry in really rural rallies." packs "r" and "l" back to back six times, a pair that British pronunciation drills return to often because they sit close together in the mouth.

How to Shadow This B1 Tongue Twister Lesson Line by Line

Work through the lines in the order Mikey gives them, since each repeat is timed to get harder.

  • Start with lines 10 to 13, the "thieving brothers" twister. Say it once at your own pace before playing the first repeat, then shadow the second and third repeats in real time.
  • Watch for the red highlights on screen. They mark the exact sound each twister is testing, so read them before you shadow rather than after.
  • Move to lines 14 to 17 only once you can say the "shiny cheese" line without swapping an "s" for a "sh". Rushing past a miss just repeats the miss four times.
  • Treat the fourth repeat of every twister as the real test. It is the fastest version, and it is the one that shows whether the earlier three actually built fluency or just familiarity.
  • If a line trips you up, loop it on its own for a minute of daily practice before returning to the full sequence. That is a shorter, more useful english shadowing practice session than replaying the whole clip.
Download on the App Store